Installation of CCTV cameras starts yielding fruits on Western Railway. In 2021, the number of criminal cases detected with the help of CCTV cameras increased by over 400 percent in comparison to 2020. In 2020 only 16 cases of theft of passengers belongings and other crimes were detected with the help of CCTV cameras. Out of these 16 cases, over 80 percent of cases belonged to the Mumbai Central division of Western railway.
In 2021 this number went up to 94 in Western Railway jurisdiction. Out of these 94 cases, 66 cases belong to the Mumbai Central division of Western Railway. Similarly 17 cases in the Ratlam division, 6 in the Vadodara division, 4 in the Ahmedabad division, and one case belongs to the Rajkot division of WR.
Asked about arrests made by WR in the above cases, officials said in 2021 total 125 accused were arrested by WR RPF with the help of newly installed state of art CCTV cameras. In 2020 only 16 accused (In 16 cases) were arrested with the help of cameras.
In 2021 also maximum arrests were made in the Mumbai Central division of WR. “In Mumbai division with the help of CCTV cameras we arrested 72 accused,” said an official of WR adding that 32 accused were arrested in Ratlam, 15 in Vadodara, 5 in Ahmedabad, and one accused arrested in Rajkot division of WR with the help of CCTV cameras in 2021.
Earlier, Mumbai Central Division of Western Railway launched a new state-of-the-art surveillance system on its suburban network from Church Gate to Virar in July 2021. Under this system, an Integrated Security System (ISS) with 2,729 sophisticated CCTV cameras has been installed at all the 30 stations on the routes including the Bandra terminus. Out of 2,729 new cameras, 450 cameras are equipped with a face recognition system, and over 500 have a video analysis system.
This system has a wide network of seven control centres at Church Gate, Dadar, Andheri, Bhayandar, Borivali, Virar and Andheri, the system provides online monitoring and high-end video analytics. New system has the capacity of storing 30 days’ video footage, apart from regular backups
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Asked about the new surveillance system of WRs Mumbai Central division, officials of WR said, “Feed of new cameras is more clear than old system. Apart from that new system also has a capacity of working on partial occlusion of face, glasses, scarfs, facial expression changes, etc.” Apart from that all entry and exit points of stations, including prominent foot-over-bridges, are covered by face recognition cameras,” added officials.
